Nearby Theaters

Kinema Theatre was located on the north-east corner of Pitkin Avenue and Berriman Street, in the East New York section of Brooklyn. It was opened on September 11, 1925. It was very popular through the 1930’s-1960’s. It was closed in 1969 and demolished in 1970. By December 1971 a community center had been built on the site.

Juice – I will look to see if I can find some, most of the kids that went to PS 64 or JHS 64 went to the Kinema. It was the “neighborhood” theater. There are a few Berriman Facebook groups in FB. One of them is http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000697256858
Keep intouch my friend. Some of my younger friends when to 302. They tore down a beautiful park to build it. We had to go further away to play ball. Now the IS 302 playground is going to be turned into a parking area for the teachers.

Went to PS 64 from K through grade 3. Left East NY in 1959. My old address was 1091 Sutter Avenue. There is nothing left of my old digs. Fond memories. I had Mrs. Worhavtic for K, Mrs. Goldstein for grade 1 , Mrs. Friedman for grade 2 and Mrs. Reily for grade 3. The summer months in our home were murderous. The electric in the aptment couldn’t support a fan, let alone an air conditioner that no one could afford. The Kinema was the best place to cool off. We’d get there at the earliest opening hour and stay until the night. Since it was to hot to sleep in our aptment, we would spend our first few hours sleeping in the dark theater. There was always plenty to see, with a cartoon, newsreel and double feature. Food was no problem, we had plenty packed along with us. So long as we were quiet, the matrons, in those white dresses and matching shoes, would let us stay. Talk about baked goods,there was a great Italian bakery quite close to the theater. The icecrean parlor on Montak and Pitkin would have been grand, but who could afford it. The best we could afford was the penny candy and cookies that we could buy at Geller’s store right opposite PS 64 near the corner grocery. Missed East NY for years. In fact, I kept comming back on weekends just to play with my neighborhood friends.

@MASCHEN The East New York Projects have quite a few pictures of the old neighborhood. I have a MySpace page for Berriman64. Brooklyn Pix also has many memories. On FaceBook there are many Berrimanites and ENYers from the pre 1970 era. That IceCream parlor was high end place. I went to Willies on Atlantic for ices and the Deli Beitziner on Pitkin and Linwood for Ice Cream or German Potato Salad. Moe’s near the Kinema for Kinishes. I lived directly across the street from 64! There are also Cypress Hills and Cityline groups in FaceBook. The seem to be quite a few Italian Bakeries along Pitkin Avenue. There was a candy store on Berriman and Belmont also. Pass by Facebook and join in there was a 50 year reunion of PS 64 last year. There are many pictures there.

FatMan 1059. Thank you for the info. The candy store I was refering to was the second store on Belmont right off of Atkins. I do remember that ther was another candy store on Berriman directly opposite PS 64. As I recall there was also a pharmacy on the corner, Bennets. It carried everytrhing from meds to watches. Also perhaps you may know the name, I think she lived on the first floor of the first or second building from the corner of Berriman on the opposite side of the school her name was Loriane Famene.?

mashen The candy store that I remember are the ones on Atkins and Belmont, Berriman and Belmont, and Berriman and Sutter, Bennett’s was on Shepherd and Belmont and another drug store was on Shepherd and Pitkin, and another one on Linwood and Pitkin. I think there was one also on Montauk and Pitkin. I don’t recall the name Loriane but she could have live in the Apartment Building on Berriman and Belmont Click here for google map area of the house I graduated from 64 in 1965 (9th Grade)

I just got on this site for the first time today and for the life of me could not put in a comment. I hope that Maschen finds this comment. We went to the same school. I too had Worhovtic for K, Mcguire for 1st Reilly for 3rd and I moved out in 1960. Bennetts drug store was our pharmacy etc.I think we might have been in the same classes or same age. Went to the Kinema all the time. The Matron was like a parent always having the flashlight shining at you if you talked. Movies then was an all day affair. Yes I remember Dans supermarket. I lived on Fountain between Sutter and Blake. On the corner of Blake and Fountain was a candy store. The name was Abes. He was an old almost blind man. In todays world would never happen. Used to get bottle caps so I can play skelly in the street.

@makoreo I remember a few drug stores along Pitkin Avenue, Sutter and even Belmont. If you are intersted there are sites (groups) on FaceBook that are area oriented. Cypress Hills Houses, CypressHills, City Line, etc. There are also school groups. I know the moderator of this site wants us to stay focused on theaters. Go visit this site for Cypress Hills Houses.

Hello-I lived in this area growing up. I came across this page searching for images of torn down buildings since there is virtually no existing video of film footage of ENY area from the late 60’s and earlys 70’s. In fact there were only TWO known films shot in this area—the infamous Death Wish 3 (shot in 1984) and the pilot to the KOJAK TV series (Marcus Nelson Murders) Does anyone have links to predemolition/renovation photos of this area brownsville-ENY. I am trying to reconstruct an era the city would like forgotten.

@palerder I don’t recall seeing any online but I know that there are sites such as THE EAST NEW YORK PROJECT, FORGOTTEN NEW YORK and BROOKLYN PIX that have quite a bit of pictures. The Brooklyn Public Library and The Brooklyn Historical Society also has many pictures. Most pictures are pre ‘70s. There was one site with pictures of the 70’s. The Link is below.